Michael

THE LARGEST SINGLE ABSENCE IN THIS KEY. The corpus held Metatron, Sandalphon and Raziel and not Michael — and it held Samael, whom the midrash exists to set Michael against. The accuser was in the registry and the defender was not.

Domains

• guardianship of israel
• kindness and water
• the divine throne
• advocacy against the accuser
• visitation of abraham

Relations

• adversary of: Samael
• cross tradition counterpart of: Mika'el

Sources

• Reference treatment of the four chief archangels in rabbinic literature: the Midrash identifies Michael, Gabriel, Uriel and Raphael as the four chief angels who surround the divine throne, each with particular attributes; Michael is called the prince of kindness (chesed) and water and Gabriel the prince of severity (gevurah) and fire, so Michael is dispatched on missions that express God's kindness and Gabriel on those that express His severity and judgement; multiple midrashic sources make Michael the heavenly defender of Israel, at odds with the demon Samael, and Israel's representative in heaven where other nations were also represented by angelic princes; the Talmud identifies Michael, Gabriel and Raphael as the three angels who visited Abraham to deliver the news that his wife would bear a son, and in later Jewish tradition Raphael is one of the three heavenly visitors entertained by Abraham at the Oak of Mamre; the writer of the Book of Daniel was the first by whom angels were individualised and given names and titles.
• 1 Enoch 20 (the Book of the Watchers)